I understand the importance of strong family connections to help our students succeed, as I am very close to my family.  Both of my parents were not able to continue their education past elementary school, but they understood the importance of education and decided to move to Houston to give us the opportunity to have an education.  Trying to speak two languages at once and having a hearing deficiency made school difficult for me.  Once I had surgery, things started to fall into place.  Both my older sister and I attended schools in Alief ISD, graduating from Elsik High school.  My brother, who is much younger than I am, became more of a son to me.  Identified as having a learning disability, I would often help him with his homework and reteach key concepts.  These experiences helped shape the way I taught and interacted with students.

I chose to pursue a degree in psychology at the University of Houston, but what started as a volunteer project for child psychology, changed my entire life.  I continued volunteering for another two years, changed my major to Education, and was hired as a paraprofessional.  As a teacher, I have had the opportunity to teach first through fifth grade, monolingual and bilingual, special education and gifted students, and served as an English Language Development Specialist and Science Lead Teacher in Alief ISD.  Shortly after teaching, I enrolled at the University of Houston-Clear Lake to obtain my Master’s degree in Educational Leadership in hopes of making a greater impact on student learning.

Fort Bend ISD gave me my first opportunity as an Assistant Principal.  During my first four years at FBISD, I served as Heritage Rose Elementary’s Assistant Principal.  In addition, I served as the Principal in Fort Bend ISD’s Kangaroo Kamp and Bilingual/ESL Summer School programs during my first four summers.  Shortly after, I served as the Principal at Dr. Lynn Armstrong Elementary School in FBISD for seven years.

Having supportive educators that served as mentors throughout our schooling has had a profound effect on me and my siblings.  As Og Mandino stated, “Always do your best.  What you plant now, you will harvest later.”  Becoming an educator has allowed me to provide students with support and guidance so that they too can succeed later in life.  I look forward to working with you all to continue to build on the success at Mission West Elementary.